An Exam Meritocracy...

In a recent article titled Five Myths About U.S. Kids Outclassed by the Rest of the World, Paul Farhi of the Washington Post cites a conversation between Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria and Singapore's education minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. In it, Shanmugaratnam was asked why his country consistently ranks higher than the United States on international math and science exams, yet fails to produce top-ranked scientists, business leaders and inventors.

Shanmugaratnam answered that America, "is a talent meritocracy, ours is an exam meritocracy. There are some parts of the intellect that we are not able to test well -- like creativity, curiosity, a sense of adventure, ambition. Most of all, America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional wisdom, even if it means challenging authority. These are the areas where Singapore must learn from America."

How can we--as teacher leaders--make the case for the return of intellectual curiosity to our classrooms? How can we help to convince policymakers--or more importantly, parents--that creative thinking and innovation should be a part of every classroom, every day?

We often bristle at the increased role that standardized testing is playing in our profession because we know that meaningful instruction and assessment is far more complex than the skills often emphasized in test-driven classrooms, but what have we done to make the case for more sophisticated measures of student--and school--achievement?

Have we--as a profession--allowed America to become an exam meritocracy? Have we stood silent, watching as educational decisionmakers pushed creativity and innovation aside in order to secure a higher ranking in international exams?

What do we lose when we sit on the sidelines during these debates?